Spontooneous

Aw, c'mon. Wouldn't most of us spend some of that $750K on a Mosaic order?

Think about it: In our present-day world, the ONLY instrumental music that many people have been exposed to is background music -- on TV, in movies, in elevators, at the grocery store. So they are CONDITIONED not to listen. This is a huge contributor to the audience-building problems that both jazz and classical music are facing now.

I'm remembering an experiment of my teen years. It involved cleaning LPs with rubbing alcohol. Gives the LP surface a lovely gray finish.

Favorite Morgan comps: Totem Pole Desert Moonlight Growing Pains Mr. Kenyatta and, OK, Ceora, which is the only song I ever called a radio station to request.

The things stuck in my head today have been: Alban Berg's Violin Concerto Hindemith's Concert Music for Strings and Brass Lee Morgan's Desert Moonlight (has anybody ever made any better arrangement of anything for just two horns?)

Another vote for Keller here. But I don't mind the Emerson set at all. Sure wish the Juilliard '60s set was on CD. I'm keeping those LPs too.

I get paid (not a lot) to write about jazz -- but I admit, I get burnt out on it, and sometimes I reach the point where it's the last thing I want to hear. Fortunately, that feeling passes. When the burnout is coming on, often it's because I've been listening to the same style or period. Gotta mix things up. I've been a classical listener since I was about 7 (that's 37 years ago), and I've been through classical phases so intense that I've temporarily burned myself out on that too. Right now I try to balance jazz and classical every day. A little blues and some rock too.

Ahh, no. You're not the only ones interested. My ex-wife got really tired of hearing "Mad About Tadd" on vinyl. Still got the LP. Love that arrangement of "If You Could See Me Now." The ex was really tired of the Philly Joe/Dameronia "Look, Stop and Listen" date too. Still waiting for that one on CD.

Bird Feathers is a blues. Charlie's Wig is based on When I Grow Too Old to Dream. Relation to CTA: All written by Americans at mid-20th century. Looking for further relations might be a stretch.

Y'all go easy on my man Bohuslav Martinu. I just love the Sixth Symphony, probably the best of the bunch because it doesn't try very hard to follow "symphonic form." Wouldn't want to live without the Fourth either.

A reply to Free For All Paul's question... The Blue Note cutout CDs were sold at the Camelot Music stores in Kansas City too. Like you, I must have bought at least two dozen. Still have many of them, too. I remember the thrill of hearing "Soul Station" and "The Big Beat" for the first time. And you never forget your first "In 'n Out." (The Joe Henderson date, I mean.) P.S., Free For All and his trombone had a really great camera position when the Plaza lighting ceremony was locally telecast on Thanksgiving night.

I forgot about Eduard Tubin (No. 2, No. 8). And Robert Simpson (5, 6, 7, 9).

One more vote for Shafi Hadi, because I love an underdog, and he NEVER disappoints with Mingus. But can't I have extra votes for Booker, and George Adams, and Rahsaan?

'Nother fan here. Would love to be a fly on the wall in the writers' room.

Another defender of Nielsen 6 here. Look into the symphonies of Vagn Holmboe, recorded on Bis. I'm partial to 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 2, in about that order.

The Rooster missed another recent KC band... called I Can Lick Any SOB In The House.

Oh, yeah, Numatik Swing Band is magnificent, if you can find it. Don't forget "Regeneration" on Soul Note, where Rudd, Misha Mengelberg, Lacy and Bennink rip through some Monk and Herbie Nichols tunes. A joyful noise.

Stanley has some discs on Steeplechase too. I've heard at least two -- titles escape me and I'm not at home right now. But both were superb. Good luck finding them. Let me also second the recommendation for "Back to the Beautiful" on Concord. I really like the Concord records that don't sound like Concord records.

Toolin' around town today, I saw a big photo of Miles on a billboard. It's a great, striking image, circa 1970 I'd guess. The b&w photo dominates the billboard. Off to the right is a slogan, "Never blend in," and a little logo for Hennessy cognac. Oh, crap. That old jazz-and-booze connection again. Am I off base for being bothered by this use of his image?

Please pardon any duplications here, but: Harold Land, The Fox Elmo Hope Trio the Eddie Davis/Johnny Griffin live dates Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny and Blue Spring Oliver Nelson, Screamin' the Blues Art Pepper, Smack Up many, many others We gotta get a cheaper hobby.

We're seeing the slow, painful death of a jazz concert series here in Kansas City. The Folly Theater jazz series audiences are getting smaller and smaller. The hall seats about 1,060. The first concert this season, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (I know, I know...), sold about 600 tickets. The second, Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana (well, that's better), sold about 500. In better days, Sonny Rollins sold out the hall, Dave Holland and Don Byron drew 800 apiece, and Lester Bowie did 700. What do you see as the problem here? Is it that their bookings this season are uninspired? (Later in the series, Ramsey Lewis and Peter Cincotti.) Would things be better if the bookings took more chances? Have they retrenched into dullness? Is it that they've failed to build a new audience as the old-line Kansas City jazz crowd ages (and dies)? And I'd like to know: Are you seeing the same sort of thing where you live? And what do we do about this? A lot of questions there, I know. But this is really depressing me right now. I don't want this series to die. And after lackluster ticket sales last year, the vultures are circling. Help!

"Flower Punk" has perfectly good blowing changes, though it might drive the rhythm section insane.